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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Region in brief: Suspect in slayings arrested

A fugitive suspected of fatally shooting two Spokane men Sept. 26 was arrested Saturday in Kennewick.

Merle W. Harvey, 27, was taken into custody without incident along with his girlfriend, Diane L. Richardson, 34. Both had been sought by police since the shootings of Jack Thomas Lamere, 41, and Jacob J. Potter, 45, almost two weeks ago.

Harvey, who was being sought on two counts of first-degree murder, was being held in the Benton County Jail on Saturday night, said Officer Jennifer DeRuwe of the Spokane Police Department.

No warrant had been issued for Richardson, though police had been looking for her since the killings. DeRuwe said she was detained for questioning and may face criminal charges.

The two were spotted in Kennewick late Saturday afternoon walking through a field carrying a bag, prompting a report of “suspicious persons” to police. When officers responded and found Harvey and Richardson, they arrested them, according to a Spokane Police Department news release.

Detectives traveled to the Tri-Cities to continue the investigation, and details about the arrest were scarce Saturday night.

Witnesses say the Sept. 26 shooting was the result of a car trade gone bad. Lamere had traded a Cadillac to Harvey for a Blazer, and Harvey wanted the Blazer back. Police reports say that Lamere and Potter were working on the Blazer in the 1300 block of West Boone Avenue when Harvey showed up in a truck driven by Richardson.

The men argued for several minutes and witnesses say Harvey pulled a rifle from the truck and fired several times, then retrieved another rifle and continued firing before fleeing in the truck. Lamere and Potter died of gunshot wounds to the chest.

Shawn Vestal

Car hits man fighting in street

A 25-year-old man suffered a broken leg after an argument between two carloads of young men turned into a fistfight in a busy intersection Saturday afternoon, police said.

The incident between two cars – each with two men inside – began as a dispute over a perceived driving infraction, then blew up at the intersection of Wall Street and Wellesley Avenue. The men left the cars and were fighting on Wellesley, officers said, when one of them was struck or run over by a passing car and suffered the broken leg.

No one was charged in the incident Saturday night.

Shawn Vestal